Forbes: Enter The VR ‘Void’ to See the Future

Tech reporter Steven Rosenbaum tried out THE VOID at TED2016. Read about his experience below.

The thing about entering any “virtual” experience is that you give some amount of control over to the experience’s creators. So for me, the decision to enter The Void came with some trepidation.

As a VR explorer, I set aside my fear of heights, the dark, and most importantly fierce servants – and put on the virtual reality headgear and computerized vest. After a brief set of instructions that included “don’t try and jump through walls – some of them are real” I entered a blacked-out room in the convention center — transformed into the “Serpent’s Eye.” I was wearing a”haptic” vest that uses sound and vibration to ramp up the sense of realism for explorers. And let me tell you, right from the start, it’s pretty darn real.

I was transported to an ancient temple. From there, I walked down the stone-lined pathways, solving puzzles to open a door into the next chamber. On the wall, a torch was burning –a voice in my headset suggested I take it along with me. So, there I was with a flaming torch in my hand as I entered the next chamber.